India satisfied with progress on access to Headley

New Delhi: India is 'satisfied' with progress of talks with the United States over access to Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant David Headley, who is suspected of involvement in Mumbai terror attacks, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said here Sunday.

"We are satisfied with the progress that these negotiations have made," Rao said at a press briefing.

She also pointed out that there had been good cooperation between India and United States in counter-terrorism, adding that Indian agencies and the home ministry were in talks with their US counterparts over access to Headley.

India's Home Minister P Chidambaram has repeated publicly that it was looking for access to Headley, who had allegedly scouted for locations in Mumbai for LeT during the planning stage for the attack.

The latest remarks by a US official on the issue were by Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake, who Friday said that while US was committed to 'full information sharing', there was still 'no decision' made on direct access to Headley for Indian investigators.

"And you know, the US Department of Justice is working with the government of India to discuss the modalities for such cooperation. But again, no decision has been made on that," he said.